Randall Bal Sets American Record in 50 Back; Meet Record Book Rewritten During First Day of Golden Bear Meet

ZAGREB, Croatia, June 16. RANDALL Bal pipped the American record in the 50 back, and the meet record book took some serious hits during the first day of long course meter competition at the Golden Bear meet held in Zagreb, Croatia this weekend from June 16-17. Overall, six meet records tumbled during the initial day of swimming.

Bal dropped the first meet record of the night with an American-record performance of 24.92 in the 50 back. The time nipped the American standard of 24.99 set by Lenny Krayzelburg on Aug. 28, 1999 in Sydney, Australia. The effort also eclipsed the former meet standard of 25.30 set by Thomas Rupprath. Rupprath wound up third in the event in 25.97, while Laszlo Cseh finished second in 25.82.

Sara Isakovic demolished the women's 200 freestyle meet standard with a time of 1:59.28. That time surpassed the 2:03.12 previously held by Yana Klochkova. Micha Oestergaard placed second in 2:03.77, while Anastasia Aksenova took third in 2:05.32.

Janne Schaefer tore down Agnes Kovacs' meet standard of 1:09.57 in front of Kovacs with a time of 1:08.98. Kovacs placed second in 1:10.21, while Sarah Poewe placed third in 1:10.65.

Nikolett Szepesi chopped a second-and-a-half off the women's 200 back meet standard with a time of 2:12.91. The previous record of 2:14.21 was set by Iryna Amshenikova. Anja Carman finished second in 2:14.63, while Ursa Mohoric rounded out the top three in 2:25.29.

Laszlo Cseh blew up the 200 IM meet record with a time of 1:59.96, which easily eclipsed the 2:03.50 set by Sergiy Sergeyev. Kamil Kasprowicz took second in 2:01.71, while Sasa Impric placed third in 2:06.56.

Therese Alshammar, fresh off a world record in the Mare Nostrum series, touched in 24.80 to lower her meet record of 24.89. Katarina Milly placed second in 26.54, while Te Rina Taite picked up third in 26.57.